


Through the Smoke

by MirrorMystic



Series: Among Eagles [11]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Beach House, Courtroom Drama, Day At The Beach, F/F, Fluff, Multi, Polyamory, Pre-OT3, Spin the Bottle, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-27 11:02:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18193739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MirrorMystic/pseuds/MirrorMystic
Summary: Paradiso is advertised as being ‘the closest to Heaven you’ll ever be’. Lily isn’t so sure about that. But it’s closer than Calcian, and much, much closer than Persephone. The dust is settling in the wake of the Sparrow’s last case, and Lily, alongside the rest of Order asset Sparrow, finally has some time to rest, relax, and reflect.On Paradiso, the beaches are spotless, and the waves are crystal clear. A bit murkier, however, are the waters that lie between Lily, Aabha, and Kit. With everything they’ve been through in the past six months, a week off from work, and a beach house practically to themselves, Lily finds her relationship with her two closest friends growing closer-- and cloudier-- by the day...





	Through the Smoke

**Author's Note:**

> The crew of the Sparrow is back in action, baby! Figuratively, at least, as this installment sees them visiting a resort world without firing a single shot. But while Morgan, Syl, Shanti, and Crane have to deal with some courtroom drama and the Order's internal politics, Aabha, Kit, Vincent and the Chase sisters are free to have a nice, fluffy day at the beach-- at least until feelings get involved. 
> 
> This might be a beach episode, but I'd hesitate to call it a "breather". I hope you all enjoy the read! ^^

~*~  
  
Imagine, if you would, a tropical island. Now imagine a sky bluer than any sky you’ve ever seen. Imagine a beach with sand so white it’s downright blinding. Imagine water so crisp and clear you can’t even tell where the sea ends and the sky begins.  
  
Imagine a place full of light and wonder, filled with a beauty just short of divine.  
  
Now imagine that such a place was just a few short steps away.  
  
_“All this and more awaits you in the gleaming, sun-kissed halls of Crystal Coast Resorts, the crown jewel of bright and beautiful Paradiso!”_ _  
_ _  
_ A woman in an elegant white swimsuit reached up and flipped her gleaming golden hair, white wings spread at her shoulders, a tasteful, ruffled skirt tracing the line of her thigh. She cooed, blonde curls fluttering in the breeze, flashing a sweet little smile.  
  
_“This is the closest to Heaven you’ve ever been,”_ the angel cooed. _“Welcome to Paradiso. Welcome… to paradise.”_ _  
_ _  
_ “Wow,” Kit said, gazing up at the shimmering hololithic woman lounging sensuously in the starport’s vaulted ceiling. “They’re laying it on pretty thick.”  
  
“Come stay at our outrageously expensive resort,” Lily drawled, “and maybe, just maybe, you can meet and make out with a busty blonde just like our spokeswoman.”  
  
“Hardly the most subtle marketing strategy,” Aabha mused.  
  
“Works for me,” Kit teased.  
  
“Do you think that’s a real angel?” Lila wondered.  
  
“Do you really think a real angel would say a tourist trap is ‘the closest to Heaven we’ve ever been’?” Kit asked, dubious.  
  
“Well, sure, if the pay was good enough,” Lily shrugged. “What do you think, Aabha?”  
  
“I don’t know…” Aabha tapped her chin, thoughtful. “I only know one angel, and she’s not a model. She’s a vet.”  
  
“Is she single?” Kit asked. Aabha giggled, and shoved her away.  
  
The girls were lounging around at the base of the Sparrow’s boarding ramp, something that was quickly becoming routine. The vast halls of Crystal Coast Starport stretched out around them. Huge holographic ads aside, the starport almost looked like a cathedral in its splendor: huge, vaulted arches and domed ceilings, brilliant stained glass skylights, polished tile floors, walls and columns in white and gold. And even all this was just the tip of the iceberg, a luscious first step into the resort world of Paradiso.  
  
The Sparrow, its hull scarred and blackened from the heat of re-entry, stuck out like a sore thumb amid the Crystal Coast’s gleaming grandeur, and the same could be said of its crew. Aabha, Kit, Lily, and Lila sat together on the polished metal deck, watching the wealthy elite disembark from their private shuttles. The girls drew disapproving stares from passing tourists, but at the sight of their Order crests, the crowd turned up their noses and hurried along without comment.  
  
Lily bumped her elbow against Lila’s, pointing with her chin.  
  
“Look, Lila,” Lily teased. “It’s your people.”  
  
“ _Please_ don’t lump me in with _them_ ,” Lila groaned. “I like to think I’m not a complete snob. Also, most of my assets got frozen when the Order dismantled the Syndicate, so…”  
  
“But you’ve still got enough for lunch, right?” Kit asked, hopeful. Lila snorted.  
  
There was a rushing whoosh behind them as one of the Sparrow’s Remora-class skimmers lit its anti-gravity drive. The sleek dart of a craft pulled out of the cargo bay and slowed into a hover at the base of the boarding ramp. Morgan, Syl, Crane and Shanti were aboard, the Remora’s armored hull plates retracted so they were riding with the top down.  
  
“Typical,” Crane was saying blithely. “Here we are, on a resort world for a whole week, and we lucky few get to spend our first day of it inside a nice, scenic Order courthouse.”  
  
_Honestly,_ Shanti signed, annoyed. _You blow up_ **_one_ ** _city hall and suddenly, you’ve got a dozen suits up at the Watchtower calling for a court martial.  
  
_“In your defense, you only destroyed city hall on my orders,” Syl said, signing as she went.  
  
_Yes, and the alternative was letting a daemon eat the city,_ Shanti huffed. _Ungrateful desk drones.  
  
_“Are you all going to be okay?” Aabha asked, having reluctantly pulled herself free from the warm tangle of Kit and Lily’s limbs.  
  
“I assure you, Aabha, this is merely a formality,” Morgan said. “No Order review board is going to punish us for sealing a Breach, no matter how extreme the methods might seem from the outside looking in. That being said, it will take us some time to make our case with the committee, so I’m afraid you girls will just have to sit tight until we get back.”  
  
Aabha giggled, flipping her braid over her shoulder. “I think we can manage.”  
  
“You’d better. We’re leaving you in charge,” Morgan said. “If anything happens, anything at all, please don’t hesitate to call me. Or Syl. Or Crane. Or, if there’s an engineering mishap, you can always send Shanti a text—“  
  
“I’ll be fine,” Aabha insisted, smiling. “Thank you, sir. And good luck.”  
  
“Take care, Aabha,” Morgan nodded. The Remora started pulling away, its armored hull rising back into place.  
  
“Be safe!” Syl called.  
  
“Have fun!” Crane chimed in.  
  
Shanti signed something that left Aabha squeaking in indignation, before the Remora’s hull slid shut and they took off down the concourse. Aabha watched them go, flustered.  
  
“What’d she say?” Lily asked, grinning.  
  
“’Behave’,” Aabha scoffed. “What does _that_ mean?”  
  
“Ooooooh, sorry, Chief,” Kit grinned, snaking an arm around Aabha’s waist. “But I’ve got _plans_. We’ve got a party coming up, don’tcha know.”  
  
“Am I invited to this party?” Lily asked, cheeky.  
  
“Maybe if you ask me _really_ nicely,” Kit cooed.  
  
“Get a room,” Lila jeered.  
  
“Well, Lila, that seems to be the plan,” Aabha tittered. Lila rolled her eyes.  
  
“What am _I_ supposed to do while you dorks are busy cuddling?” Lila asked, indignant. As if on cue, her comm chirped with a new text.  
  
_By the way_ , Lila, Crane had sent her. _I don’t want you to fall behind in your studies. I’m sending you some reading material on psionics; you may not have an active gift, but everyone can stand to practice their mental defenses against psychic attack. Work hard! I’ll be testing you when I get back, so make sure your barriers are ready. ;)  
  
_“ _Winky face?!_ ” Lila cried.  
  
“You better do it,” Kit said, reading over Lila’s shoulder. “She’s a mind reader. She’ll know if you don’t study.”  
  
“Arrrgh!” Lila groaned. “No one _else_ has homework!”  
  
There was another rushing whoosh up in the cargo bay, as the second Remora lit its engines. Jaki and Vincent clambered aboard, with Yuna in the driver’s seat. Robyn stood on the deck, propping an elbow up against the Remora’s chassis. She leaned in and gave Yuna a soft, sweet kiss, before grinning and clapping a hand on the hull.  
  
“Alright, ladies!” Robyn called. “Let’s pack it up!”  
  
“Where are you headed, Captain?” Aabha asked, as she and the girls wandered up into the cargo bay.  
  
“You mean, ‘where are _we_ headed’,” Robyn grinned.  
  
“Hold on, what’s this ‘we’ stuff?” Kit protested. “Not to be, like, an ass about this, but I’ve kinda got plans, if you know what I’m saying…”  
  
“C’mon, girls,” Robyn said. “Don’t tell me you thought you’d just be stuck on the Sparrow the whole time we’re here?”  
  
The girls exchanged glances.  
  
“Well… yeah,” Lily said. “I dunno about you, but this place seems a little outta my price range.”  
  
“It must be costing you a fortune just to keep the Sparrow docked in this starport,” Lila offered.  
  
“Both true,” Robyn admitted. “But don’t worry.”  
  
Robyn pulled a keyring from her pocket and spun it around her finger.  
  
“Guess what _I’ve_ got~” _  
_  
~*~  
  
“You own a _beach house_?!”  
  
“Strictly speaking, my _sister_ owns a beach house. I just have a key,” Robyn grinned, her hands on her hips. “Perks of being an Admiral, I guess.”  
  
Robyn’s villa rose like a crown over the gleaming dunes of Crystal Coast. She turned, smirking at the awe on the girls’ faces, before clapping a hand on the Remora’s chassis and slinging a duffel bag over her shoulder.  
  
“Well!” Robyn announced. “Make yourselves at home. For the next week, you’re all gonna be honored guests at the Villa de Weiss.”  
  
“Her friends call it ‘the White House’,” Yuna teased, a conspiratorial hand over her mouth.  
  
“Don’t spread lies about me, sweetpea,” Robyn chided. She offered her hand as Yuna climbed out of the skimmer, and tugged her into a kiss as soon as her feet hit the sand.  
  
“Oh, man, look at this place!” Kit grinned, manic. “Captain, you’re the best!”  
  
“I know,” Robyn preened.  
  
“Finally, a real vacation,” Aabha sighed, content. She glanced at Lily sidelong. “With any luck, this one will be even better than the last…”  
  
“Aabha, the last time you took a vacation, you got kidnapped, tortured, and had a sorcerer poking around in your memories,” Lily said dryly. “‘Better than last time’ is hardly a high bar. You went through hell.”  
  
“True enough,” Aabha shrugged, smiling. She reached beside her, curling an arm around both Lily and Kit and pulling them close with a squeeze.  
  
“But then again…,” Aabha cooed. “...you two came right after me and got me out. My heroes.”  
  
It was amazing how much warmth Aabha could put into just two words-- almost as much as the warmth that flicked across Lily’s cheeks. She glanced away, bashful.  
  
“I mean,” Kit grinned, “I _am_ pretty great.”  
  
Lily rolled her eyes and shoved Kit away. Kit tripped over the Remora’s chassis and fell onto the beach with an undignified squawk.  
  
“Oh, shit! Kit, are you--” Lily yelped as Kit grabbed her and yanked her down. They rolled down the hill, tangled in each other, before Lily sprang to her feet, indignantly swiping sand from her clothes. Kit clambered to her feet, goading her, grinning from ear to ear.  
  
“Come and get me, sister!”  
  
“Oh, you’re gonna get it!” Lily cried.  
  
They took off down the beach, both of them squealing and yelling like they were kids again. Aabha watched them go, filled with such an overwhelming fondness it made her heart ache.  
  
Vincent came up beside her. He bumped an elbow against hers, nodding across the beach.  
  
“It’s good to see your girls getting along, huh?” Vincent asked.  
  
Aabha tittered, sheepish. “They’re not ‘my’ girls…”  
  
“Does this mean _we_ have to bring in their luggage?” Lila drawled.  
  
Aabha’s comm chirped. She nodded to Lila as she reluctantly joined Jaki and Vincent in unloading the Remora, pulling out her comm. A six-inch hololith of Morgan appeared, cupped in the palm of her hand.  
  
“Hello, sir!” Aabha said sweetly.  
  
_“Hello, Aabha,”_ Morgan said. _“Is everything alright so far?”_  
  
“You just saw me an hour ago,” Aabha giggled.  
  
_“Yes. Well.”_ Morgan coughed. _“I just wanted to check in.”_  
  
“We’re _fine_ ,” Aabha insisted. “We just arrived at the Captain’s beach house. Between her and Father Amaro, if anything comes up, I’m sure we’ll have it under control. How are things on your end?”  
  
_“Syl, Tabby and I are taking some time to review the Calcian case doc before our hearing gets underway. Shanti already misses her workshop. I imagine she’s feeling rather restless without her drones and a box of parts.”_ _  
__  
_ “Well, let’s hope you can get this cleared up soon so you can come back and join the party,” Aabha said.  
  
_“Let’s hope,”_ Morgan shrugged. He sighed. _“Listen, Aabha. If you need anything--”_  
  
“Sir, relax,” Aabha urged. “It’s fine. Everything’s fine. We’re in paradise, don’tcha know.”  
  
Morgan took a deep breath and heaved out another anxious sigh. _“...Alright. But again, if you need anything, Aabha, anything at all, please don’t hesitate to call.”_  
  
“Alright, listen up, people!” Robyn announced from the porch steps. “You’re all welcome to stay here, but don’t forget: my house, my rules! Or, really, just the one rule, which is: I! Don’t! Work! Here! We’re all on vacation. I’m punched out. I’m off the clock.”  
  
Robyn looped an arm around Yuna’s waist and squeezed.  
  
“If you need me, I’ll be upstairs,” Robyn grinned. “ _Please_ try not to need me.”  
  
~*~  
  
An hour’s drive from the spaceport, and it became clear where the tourist trap ended and the ordinary city began. The Order outpost on Paradiso was a squat, drab little facility a far cry from the lavish locales of Crystal Coast. Aside from the palm trees in the parking lot and the Order crest above the door, it was just like any other office.  
  
Morgan, Syl, Shanti, and Crane were waiting on a long bench just outside the courtroom, all of them dressed for the occasion: Morgan in a sober, midnight-blue robe etched in white; Syl, in a dark pantsuit in black and forest green; Crane, in a ruffled black gown accented in amber; and Shanti, in a crisp, wheat-gold uniform that she almost never wore aboard the Sparrow, for fear of it getting sullied with engine grease.  
  
Agents and their juniors wandered past them in the halls. Paradiso’s brilliant sun blazing through the windows seemed only to remind everyone that they were stuck indoors. Overall, the atmosphere was less of dread and more of tedious bureaucracy. Of course, if anyone would worry…  
  
“‘Aabha, just a reminder…’” Morgan read aloud as he typed. “‘...if you need… anything... ‘“  
  
Morgan blinked, indignant, as Shanti plucked his comm from his hands and stuck it in her pocket.  
  
_You can have this back after class,_ Shanti signed dryly.  
  
Morgan huffed. “Shanti, please. I’m just trying to keep Aabha posted.”  
  
_You’re nagging._  
  
“Am not.”  
  
_Yes you are._  
  
“Am not!”  
  
“What aren’t you? A huge nerd? ‘Cuz you are,” Crane teased.  
  
“Oh, like _you’re_ one to talk,” Morgan rolled his eyes.  
  
“Don’t mind him, Tabby,” Syl put in. “He’s just sour he’s not the only one who wore a dress today.”  
  
“Robe!” Morgan fumed. “Listen, can we get ourselves together, please? We’ve been summoned to a court martial. This is serious!”  
  
“Relax,” Syl said gently, squeezing Morgan’s shoulder. “This is just a formality. You said so yourself. You told Aabha there was nothing to worry about.”  
  
“I told Aabha that _she_ has nothing to worry about. _We_ , on the other hand, have _plenty_ to worry about,” Morgan insisted. His eyes locked onto something over Syl’s shoulder, and his gaze grew hard. He gritted his teeth. “Case in point…”  
  
A shadow fell across the group. A four-man squad appeared down the hall, in dark coats over russet body armor, their hoods pulled up over their helms. They each bore the Order crest, but not in its traditional red and gold-- all the color had been scraped down to silver, one that became an eerie bone-white in the right light. In addition to the Order crest, they wore a second: a letter “I”, stylized as a candle with a single flame above.  
  
The Inquisition. Those who stand vigil against the dark. The elite, personal escort of the Order’s highest ranking individuals, and those in charge of the Order’s internal affairs.  
  
_What are they doing here?_ Shanti signed, glowering.  
  
The squad stepped aside as a woman came forward, her dark hair cut short to accentuate her severe, hawklike features. She surveyed the group from behind a pair of thin glasses perched on her nose, her eyes a piercing violet. She, too, wore the colors of the Inquisition: red, black, and gold.  
  
“Agents,” she said, and they snapped to attention in an instant. “Please, come inside and take a seat. We will be beginning momentarily.”  
  
She strode inside, her long coat billowing at her heels, alongside her menacing escort.  
  
Whatever this had been when they had first received the summons, it was a lot more serious now. Shanti heaved an irritated sigh. Syl stared straight ahead, frozen in place. Morgan’s hands were shaking.  
  
Morgan exhaled as Crane’s hand closed around his. He turned, and saw her take Syl’s hand, in turn, with a reassuring squeeze.  
  
“Game faces, guys,” Crane said quietly. “Here we go…”  
  
~*~  
  
Lila raised her arms above her head and stretched, before flopping down onto the bed, blowing out a blissful sigh.  
  
“Man, this is the life…” Lila cooed. She lay back, her hair luxuriously fanning like a halo around her head. “Just look at this place. The sun is shining. The waves are calling…”  
  
She glanced up at the baby blue wallpaper, the stark white windowsill, the fishing nets hanging like drapes and the starfish and seashells framed and mounted on the walls.  
  
“...the decor’s kinda kitschy, but y’know, whatever,” Lila smiled. She looked up to the head of the huge king bed, where Aabha, Kit, and Lily were all enjoying a cuddle. “Isn’t this the best? This is just what I needed-- some time to kick back and relax with my best friends in the whole world.”  
  
“Don’t you mean ‘only’ friends?” Kit teased. Lila thumped her on the knee.  
  
“Oh, who’s counting?” Lila huffed. She took out her comm and waved it around. “And for the record, I _have_ other friends. I’ll have you know, I’ve been texting Sera every day since we left Calcian. We’ve been talking for almost a whole month, so… I’d say things are getting pretty serious.”  
  
“ _I’d_ say, since you’re already calling her ‘Sera’,” Lily teased. “What, has she got a cute little pet name for you, too? Lemme guess: ‘kitten’.”  
  
“Aww!” Aabha cooed. Kit wolf-whistled.  
  
“She does _not_ ,” Lila huffed. She cleared her throat, glancing at the floor. “...She, um… she calls me ‘princess’.”  
  
“Gaaaaaay!” Kit and Lily chorused.  
  
“What _ever!_ ” Lila wailed.  
  
“Oh, be nice,” Aabha chided, giving Kit and Lily a playful shove. “As much as I love all of you, so far, _I_ think the best thing about our little vacation so far has been having a proper bed. My cot aboard the Sparrow just gets me so stiff…”  
  
“It’ll be hard to go back to, that’s for sure,” Lila concurred.  
  
“This bed _is_ pretty nice,” Kit said, flashing a grin. “What do you say we… test it out?”  
  
“ _Kit!_ ” Aabha hissed, giggling.  
  
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure Yuna and the captain have already got that covered,” Lily drawled.  
  
“Whoa, whoa!” Aabha protested. “Don’t say that! Those are our moms!”  
  
Silence. Lily raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Wow,” Kit said.  
  
“W-Wait, that’s not…” Aabha murmured, sheepish. She tugged at her braid. “I don’t… I mean…”  
  
“No, no, I get you!” Lila chimed in.  
  
The door opened, then closed again with a smack. The girls exchanged puzzled looks. A moment later, there was a bashful knock at the door.  
  
“Hey, are y’all decent in there?” Vincent called.  
  
“No, Vince, we’re all fucking,” Lily rolled her eyes.  
  
“Well, shit, y’all don’t waste any time…” Vincent muttered as he stepped inside, dressed for the beach in a white tank top, swim trunks and an outrageously floral Hawaiian shirt. Lila snorted.  
  
“What are you wearing?” Lily asked.  
  
“What am I _wearing_? What are you _doing_!” Vincent cried, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “C’mon, guys! What, are you just gonna stay here and lie in bed all day? Let’s hit the beach!”  
  
“Oh!” Aabha clapped her hands. “That sounds lovely! We should all go.”  
  
“Oh, uh…” Kit made a face. “About that. I sort of… can’t.”  
  
Aabha blinked. “...You can’t?”  
  
“Yeah…” Lily muttered, suddenly bashful. “...we, um. We can’t, either.”  
  
Aabha glanced between the two of them, realization dawning in her eyes. “...You can’t _swim_?”  
  
“Look, Hypnos is a desert planet, okay?” Kit said, defensive. “Not a lot of beaches where I’m from.”  
  
“Same here,” Lily shrugged, sitting up and pulling Lila into a casual side-hug. “We weren’t big on swimming, back on Persephone, with all that rain. And neither were you, Vince!”  
  
“I wasn’t _born_ on Persephone,” Vincent sighed. “Come on, guys! You’re telling me you’d rather lie around in here with the captain’s seashell collection?”  
  
“Oh, let’s go! It’ll be fun!” Aabha urged. “And if you don’t know how to swim, Vincent and I can teach you! It’s not very hard.”  
  
“Well, alright…” Lily shrugged. Aabha beamed. “Only thing is, what are we gonna wear? We don’t own any swimsuits or anything.”  
  
Vincent groaned. “So what you’re saying is, you’re _not_ going swimming?”  
  
“No!” Lila jumped up, clapping her hands with delight. “We’re going _shopping_!”  
  
~*~  
  
Yuna and Jaki were downstairs, Yuna’s dress and Jaki’s thobe practically glowing in the brilliant sunlight streaming in through the windows. While Jaki was poking around the liquor cabinet-- more of a liquor wall, really, a wooden trellis stuffed with glass bottles-- Yuna was elegantly draped across the sofa, her hair mussed and her lips curled in a playful, tell-tale smirk.  
  
“Drinking already, Father?” Yuna teased. “The sun’s still up.”  
  
“You know I don’t drink, child,” Jaki chuckled. “I’m merely… taking inventory. So I know when-- and how much-- goes missing.”  
  
Yuna smiled. “...Wise.”  
  
The girls appeared at the top of the stairs, peeking down into the living room. They sent Aabha ahead with a nudge. Aabha made her way down the steps, putting on her brightest smile.  
  
“Hello!” Aabha chirped, waving. “Hello, Father. Hello, Yuna.”  
  
“Hello, dear,” Yuna cooed. She sank onto the couch, stretching out like a cat basking in the sun-- a seven-foot tall cat with super strength and a fondness for sundresses, at least. “Don’t mind me, Aabha. I’m merely enjoying the weather. You might think I’d be more inclined to colder locales, and I am. But there’s something about all this sun that just makes me want to sleep the day away.”  
  
Aabha giggled. “What about the captain? Is she… around?”  
  
“Ah,” Yuna smiled, “I’m afraid the captain is still asleep.”  
  
“Told you,” Lily muttered at the top of the stairs.  
  
“In that case,” Aabha pressed on, “I was wondering if I could maybe… borrow the keys to the Remora? I was hoping to take Strike One into the city, so we could all do a bit of shopping. If! If that’s okay with you, of course…”  
  
“Of course!” Yuna smiled gently. She retrieved the keys from her dress, spun them around her finger and tossed them into Aabha’s waiting hands. “Drive safe, now, you hear me?”  
  
“And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Jaki chided, chuckling. “Don’t you get up to any funny business in town. If you do, I’ll know about it.”  
  
“Will you, now?” Aabha teased.  
  
“A father always knows,” Jaki sniffed. “Now what are you waiting for? Go on, child.”  
  
“Thank you!” Aabha beamed. “We’re gonna head out. We’ll see you all later!”  
  
The girls rushed downstairs and scurried out the door, a bewildered Vincent in tow. Jaki and Yuna watched fondly as they piled into the Remora and lit its drives, hearing the familiar warbling of its anti-gravity halo, and seeing the plume of blown-back sand trailing behind it as it shot off down the beach.  
  
Yuna stretched, her arms above her head, before her lithe form settled back down onto the couch with a blissful smile.  
  
“...It’s nice to see everyone having a good time,” she murmured, eyes heavy-lidded.  
  
“Yes, indeed,” Jaki mused, somber. “One can only hope the others are faring just as well...”  
  
~*~  
  
“This hearing is called to order,” announced the inquisitor at the head of the room. She sat behind a broad desk on a dais raised above the rest of the room, flanked by two men. To her left sat a grizzled, gray-haired veteran in the uniform and pins of an Alliance admiral. To her right, a small, unassuming man with a thinning hairline and drooping eyes that gave him a permanently sad expression, bearing the crest of the Order pinned to his lapels.  
  
“Presiding over this review,” she continued, “are Admiral Claude Vernon of the Alliance Navy; Commander Hui Lam of Order Operations; and myself, High Inquisitor Victoria Thorn of Order Internal Affairs. Assisting us today is my junior, Agent Simon Blair.”  
  
She gave a curt nod. A young man in the corner of the room looked up from his dataslate and gave the team a friendly wave. Circuitry embedded beneath his skin glinted in the light as he waved, before a glance from Thorn had him clearing his throat and sheepishly returning to his records.  
  
“Agents,” Thorn announced. “Please rise, and state your names and ranks for the court record.”  
  
“Senior Agent Morgan Telerian, co-agent-in-command of Order asset Sparrow,” Morgan said.  
  
“Senior Agent Sylwyn Telerian, co-agent-in-command of Order asset Sparrow,” Syl said in turn.  
  
Shanti glanced up at her service drone floating at her shoulder and the scrolling text of the transcribed conversation. She sighed, typing with her haptic implants by drumming her fingers against her crossed arms.  
  
_Chief Shanti Bryant, Chief Engineer of Order asset Sparrow,_ she said.  
  
“Agent Tabitha Crane, Order Intelligence,” Crane said.  
  
“Well met, all of you,” Thorn declared. “Agents of Order asset Sparrow, you are called before this tribunal to explain certain decisions made in the course of your recent operations, on behalf of your team and on behalf of your commanding officer Cassandra Vega.”  
  
“With respect, Madam Inquisitor,” Morgan began, “I don’t believe we should be scrutinizing Commander Vega’s decisions regarding Order asset Sparrow without her present to speak on her own behalf.”  
  
“With respect, Agent,” Admiral Vernon spoke, a throaty rumble, “your team is the _reason_ Commander Vega is not here to defend herself.”  
  
“Quite right,” Thorn said sternly. “Commander Vega is still overseeing the reconstruction effort in Shepherd’s Rock, Calcian, after you, Chief Bryant, saw fit to demolish city hall.”  
  
Shanti bristled.  
  
“Chief Bryant was acting under _my_ authority,” Syl cut in.  
  
_And I did it to seal a Breach,_ Shanti grumbled.  
  
“Agents, please,” Commander Lam said patiently, raising a hand in apology. “Allow me to remind this tribunal that Chief Bryant, Agent Crane, and Agents Telerian are not being accused of anything at this time. We are merely having a civil discussion. Is that acceptable, Inquisitor Thorn?”  
  
Thorn smiled thinly. “...Of course, Commander.”  
  
“Agents,” Lam continued, “I have reviewed your service record, as has the rest of this board. These past few months have been busy ones for your team, indeed. In that time, you have gained some unexpected allies, and made some dangerous enemies. If we are to understand the position you are in now, and to clarify the path that brought you here, before this tribunal, I believe a review of your recent cases would be prudent.”  
  
“Agreed,” Vernon rumbled.  
  
“Very well, then,” Thorn exhaled. “Agents, if you would, let’s begin the review with your case six months ago, when you were pursuing the rogue sorcerer, Cyrus, on Hypnos. Agent Morgan, if you would?”  
  
“Yes, Inquisitor,” Morgan said, shuffling through his notes.  
  
“Everyone else, feel free to take a seat,” Thorn said blithely. “We’re going to be here for a while…”  
  
~*~  
  
“Man, what’s taking them so long? We’ve been out here awhile…”  
  
Vincent sighed, walked up to the side of the changing stall and knocked on the wooden partition.  
  
“Don’t come in here!” Lila squealed in surprise.  
  
“Come on, guys! Did you die in there, or what?” Vincent sighed.  
  
“I can go check on them, I guess,” Kit offered, reluctantly pulling her arm from Aabha’s waist.  
  
“You need to get changed, too,” Aabha reminded her.  
  
“Right,” Kit grinned. “I’ve got a surprise for you. If you think _you_ look good, babe, just wait’ll you see _me_!”  
  
Aabha grinned and shooed her off. She waited with Vincent outside the changing stalls, looking resplendent in a sunny saffron two-piece swimsuit with a long, elegant ruffled skirt and a matching sunset-colored ribbon tying off her braid. A big, floppy sun hat completed the look. Beside her, Vincent’s slate gray swim trunks didn’t seem too fashionable by comparison, but he was of the opinion that a snazzy pair of sunglasses was all you ever needed.  
  
“Oh, Vincent,” Aabha tutted. “I hope you remembered to bring sunscreen.”  
  
“Yeah, man. This sun’s gonna broil me like blackened chicken,” Vincent winced.  
  
“Here, let’s trade,” Aabha offered.  
  
Aabha gave Vincent her hat, and put on Vincent’s sunglasses.  
  
“How do I look?” she cooed, flipping her braid over her shoulder with a smile.  
  
“Like a covergirl,” Vincent said. “How about me?”  
  
“Like your arms and your back will get sunburned like no tomorrow. But at least your face will be okay!”  
  
“That’s the spirit!” Vincent chuckled, shaking his head. “...Oh man, I gotta get that sunscreen…”  
  
“What’s up, guys?”  
  
Lily sauntered out of the stall in a one-piece swimsuit in stark black and white, separated by a zig-zagging diagonal stripe from her shoulder down to her hip. The corkscrews of her hair caught the light and glowed like a halo above her head, bouncing with her every step.  
  
“Wow, Lily!” Aabha chirped. “You look great!”  
  
Vincent nodded his approval. “You look ready to turn some heads.”  
  
Lily shrugged. “Only ‘cuz they’ve never seen a black girl before.”  
  
Vincent sputtered. Aabha clapped a hand over her mouth, stifling snickers.  
  
Lily grinned, calling over her shoulder. “Lila! Kit! C’mon, we don’t got all day!”  
  
“I’m coming out!” Kit announced. “Get ready!”  
  
“She said she had a surprise for you,” Lily said. “I wonder what _that_ means.”  
  
“I just hope she doesn’t walk out of there naked,” Aabha muttered, sheepish.  
  
“That _would_ be pretty surprising,” Vincent admitted.  
  
Kit burst out of the stall with a flourish. She was not, to the trio’s relief, naked. But, to their blank-faced-but-slowly-cracking-up horror, she emerged from the changing stall wearing a swimsuit the pale gray of sharkskin, with a cutout over her midriff to look like a shark taking a bite out of her. It even had little fabric shark teeth!  
  
“Look out, ladies! There’s a shark in these waters,” Kit grinned. She reached over to a giggling Aabha, covering her face in embarrassment, and pried one of her hands away, clapping it against her bare midriff.  
  
“Careful, babe,” Kit growled, pressing Aabha’s hand against her. “She _bites_.”  
  
“Oh my god,” Vincent said flatly.  
  
“I can’t believe you actually bought _that_ one,” Lily said.  
  
“Oh, sure, I’m the bad guy when Vincent’s the one who got sidetracked buying _fireworks_ ,” Kit rolled her eyes.  
  
“Hey, that detour was time well spent!”  
  
“Come on, look at this thing!” Kit grinned and shoved Vincent away. She swiveled around in Aabha’s embrace so she could face Lily, Aabha tucking Kit’s head under her chin and looping her arms around her waist. “I walked into the store and bam! I knew this was the one.”  
  
“Was it love at first _bite_?” Aabha teased.  
  
“God, I love you,” Kit murmured. She craned back and gave Aabha a kiss.  
  
“Alright, Lila!” Lily called. “Now we’re all just waiting on you!”  
  
“I feel silly!” Lila called back.  
  
“You look _fine_ ,” Lily insisted. “Can you please come out now?”  
  
“Okay, but you have to _promise_ you won’t laugh. Okay?”  
  
“We _promise_ ,” Vincent groaned. “Sheesh…”  
  
When it came down to it, Lila did look fine. She really did. Her swimsuit wasn’t terribly unflattering or gaudy-- just a simple one-piece with stylized, lineless sunflowers on a white backdrop. In fact, it looked pretty cute. Unfortunately, she was also wearing garish, neon orange floaties around her arms, and was carrying an inner tube around her waist that was almost comically large and ostentatious.  
  
Vincent had to fight down a snicker.  
  
“Don’t. _Laugh._ ” Lila snapped.  
  
“I wasn’t!” Vincent insisted. “I was, y’know, admiring how you seem to be, uh, ready for anything!”  
  
“This is my first time going swimming, ever, and if the videos on the extranet are anything to go by, drowning is a terrible way to die!” Lila pouted.  
  
“Okay, first of all, you should _never_ take advice from the extranet,” Kit said dryly.  
  
“And you’re _not_ going to _drown_ ,” Lily chided. “Vincent and Aabha are going to take good care of us.”  
  
“They didn’t even say I looked cute,” Lila pouted.  
  
“I said you looked fine,” Vincent rolled his eyes.  
  
“That’s not the same!” Lila huffed, indignant. She turned to Aabha, beseeching. “Please, Aabha? You think I look cute, right?”  
  
Lila’s outfit made Aabha want to say yes. Lila’s accessories, on the other hand…  
  
“...your inner tube having a swan’s head is a _little_ much,” Aabha admitted with a wince.  
  
Lila stared at her, dismayed. Then she took a deep breath, and sighed.  
  
“...Fine,” she said.  
  
Lila pulled her inner tube over her head and flung it over her shoulder. She yanked off her arm floaties and tossed them on the sand. Behind her, her inner tube landed on the changing stall’s tile floor with a sound almost like a swan’s honk.  
  
“No floaties,” Lila declared, cocking a hand on her hip. “But Aabha, Vincent, I swear, if either of you let me drown, I am going to haunt you _so_ bad.”  
  
Vincent sighed. “Alright, that’s fair…”  
  
“Aabha,” Lily smiled, taking Kit’s hands and gently untangling her from Aabha’s embrace. “May I pull you away from your girlfriend long enough to teach us all to swim?”  
  
“If you really have to,” Aabha giggled. She ushered them down towards the water, the three of them walking hand in hand.  
  
“Remember, babe,” Kit teased, “your girlfriend also doesn’t know how to swim. So, basically, our lives are in your hands.”  
  
Aabha laughed, lacing her fingers with Kit and Lily and giving them both a squeeze.  
  
“Sure,” Aabha murmured, “no pressure…”  
  
~*~  
  
“So you were unable to capture the rogue sorcerer, Maxwell,” Thorn concluded.  
  
“That is, unfortunately, the case,” Morgan said levelly.  
  
“However,” Syl cut in, “we discovered the source of the so-called ‘black sand’: a Devourer, a daemon of Decay, lurking in astral space beneath the city’s Shield Pylon, invisible to ungifted eyes. On my orders, Chief Bryant set demolition charges and we destroyed the generator room, and the Devourer along with it.”  
  
“Thus beginning a reconstruction effort that will last for months,” Vernon rumbled. “Perhaps even years.”  
  
“With _respect_ , Admiral,” Syl said levelly, “a more charitable soul would call that ‘saving the city’.”  
  
“The Alliance Navy is the wrong place to go looking for charity, Agent,” Vernon shot back. Lam sighed, raising a hand in apology yet again.  
  
“Everyone, please,” Lam said quietly. “May I remind this board that the esteemed and capable officers of Order asset Sparrow are not here to be accused of incompetence.”  
  
_Then why_ ** _are_** _we here, exactly?_ Shanti signed, glowering.  
  
“I’m sorry, could you repeat that, Chief Bryant?” Thorn asked.  
  
“No comment, Madam Inquisitor,” Crane said tightly. Shanti blew out an irritated sigh.  
  
“Agents,” Lam pressed, “in the past six months you have served the Order with distinction. You spearheaded Commander Vega’s campaign to dismantle the Dark Star Syndicate in this sector. You sealed a Breach on Calcian that, if left unchecked, would have doomed an entire world to the clutches of Malice. You’ve even taken young Miss Sato and the Chase sisters under your wings, so to speak. A bright new generation is blossoming under your guidance and care. Your skills have never been in question.”  
  
“Then, if I may be perfectly frank, Commander,” Syl said stiffly, “what _is_?”  
  
“Your safety,” Thorn said bluntly. “And your judgment.”  
  
Syl blinked, taken aback. “...What?”  
  
“Commander Lam has been trying to remind Admiral Vernon and myself of Order asset Sparrow’s capabilities and contributions to sector security in the past months,” Thorn said, glowering sidelong at Lam. “However, as he so aptly put, your skills have never been in question. You are, every one of you, exceptionally capable officers of the law. But there is, unfortunately, an elephant in the room: one that you have carried with you ever since the debacle on Hypnos some weeks ago.”  
  
“Oh, no…” Morgan breathed, closing his eyes...  
  
“Your junior, Aabha Puri, has served aboard the Sparrow with distinction up until now,” Thorn declared. “However, in light of her… distress… at the hands of the Blood Pact sorcerer Cyrus, I’m sure you will agree that the situation has changed. We are not here to argue your steps or missteps, Agents. We are here to discuss Aabha’s future, and with it, the future of your team.”  
  
~*~  
  
Out in the stunningly clear waters of Crystal Coast, Lila could see exactly where she stood; on the very edge of the shelf of land extending from the shore, on the precipice of the sharp drop into open ocean. Lila gulped. She turned, meeting Kit’s eyes beside her. Kit flashed her a grin.  
  
“Alright, guys,” Vincent said, crossing around in front of them, “this next part’s real easy. You walked out here without freaking out, so we’re off to a good start. Now, all you gotta do is keep walking. Step off of the sand, and kick your feet so you stay floating.”  
  
Kit took a deep breath, and clapped her hands together. “Alright! I’ve got this! I’m ready!”  
  
“It’s _really_ not that serious,” Vincent said dryly.  
  
Kit made her way forward, her eyes closed. After a few tense moments, she opened her eyes, looked around, and whooped. “Oh! Oh, hey! I’m doing it! I’m swimming!”  
  
“Treading water, but who’s counting?” Vincent muttered.  
  
“Look at me!” Kit preened. “Hey, I make this look easy! C’mon, Lila! I’ve got you, girl!”  
  
“...Okay…” Lila muttered. She stepped off the sand shelf, cringing as her feet hit empty, open water… and was astonished when she didn’t sink. She gasped, throwing her arms open and flailing in excitement. “Oh! Lily! Lily, look! I’m doing it! I’m doing it!!!”  
  
Across the water, Lily waved, grinning.  
  
“Look at them,” Aabha said beside her, a fond smile on her lips. “They are the future.”  
  
Lila bobbed underneath a stray wave and squealed in surprise, flailing. “Wahh! I’m not doing it! I’m not doing it! I want my swan!”  
  
Vincent threw his hands up. “You don’t _need_ some stupid--”  
  
“Hey. Hey! Leave her swan alone!”  
  
“Oh yeah, the future looks bright,” Lily snickered. She turned, giving Aabha a nod. “Alright, fearless leader. What’ve you got for me today?”  
  
“Well!” Aabha clapped her hands together. “While Vincent’s throwing Kit and Lila into the deep end, so to speak, I figured we’d start a little smaller.”  
  
“How small are we talking?” Lily asked.  
  
“How about floating?” Aabha suggested. She picked her feet up and lay back, breathing out a content sigh. “See? Nice and simple. Can you do what I just did?”  
  
“I think so,” Lily murmured. She closed her eyes, opened her arms, and let the water take her weight.  
  
This was… different. Lily took a deep breath and let it out slow. The next moment melted into an eternity. The sun felt blissfully warm on her skin, on her face, behind her eyelids. Laying here, with the sun glittering off the water and all the tension in her limbs carried off away by the current, felt so, _so_ different from her bunk on the Sparrow. As much as she loved her roommates, her actual room was pretty claustrophobic. But out here, even with the shore still in sight, both the sea and the sky seemed to go on forever.  
  
Aabha’s hand closed around Lily’s and tugged her out of her thoughts.  
  
“Huh?” Lily asked, blinking.  
  
“Sorry,” Aabha smiled, floating beside her. “Just making sure you didn’t drift off.”  
  
“To sleep or into the ocean?”  
  
Aabha tittered. “Both?”  
  
“I gotta say, this is pretty relaxing,” Lily admitted. “I could probably just lie here all day.”  
  
“And never learn how to actually swim?” Aabha teased.  
  
“We’ve got time.” Lily grinned. “We’re here all week.”  
  
Lily felt the water slosh beside her, and then an arm brush against her back. She sucked in a breath.  
  
“Y’know,” Aabha said, thoughtfully tapping her lips, “now that you know how to float, I could just teach you how to backstroke. From here, it’s really just kicking your feet and waving your arms around.”  
  
“I dunno,” Lily murmured, her voice suddenly quite small. “I think this is pretty nice.”  
  
“Yeah,” Aabha said, so tenderly it made Lily’s heart skip a beat. “It is, isn’t it?”  
  
Aabha stood, chest-deep in Crystal Coast’s brilliant waters, an arm beneath Lily’s back, propping her up as she floated. Lily reached out, looping her arm around Aabha’s waist and pulling her close. For a long moment, they simply clung to each other, quiet save for Lily’s own heart pounding in her ears.  
  
“What are you thinking about?” Aabha cooed. The brilliant sunlight framed her face and caught in her hair like a halo, or a crown.  
  
_You,_ Lily wanted to say. _You are so beautiful._  
  
But that thought was leading somewhere Lily wasn’t sure she could follow. So she pushed it away.  
  
“...How Kit and Lila are doing,” Lily shrugged. “How about you?”  
  
Aabha glanced away, suddenly shy. “...You’re gonna laugh.”  
  
“Try me.”  
  
“Okay, honestly?” Aabha murmured, sheepishly tugging at her braid. “...You know how, like, superheroes carry people? Like out of burning buildings or whatever? I’ve… I’ve always wanted to try carrying someone like a hero, but I never knew if I had enough upper body strength.”  
  
“Y’know, I carried Morgan out of EXC Tower that time you two got kidnapped by The Exchange.”  
  
“I know!” Aabha squealed. “That was so cool! You were so strong!”  
  
“...I mean, Morgan’s tiny, and his weird Fae biology means he only weighs, like, a hundred pounds soaking wet…”  
  
“Don’t call his biology ‘weird’!” Aabha chided.  
  
“Alright, Aabha, let’s do this,” Lily grinned. “I’ll be your princess, if you’ll be my hero. That is, if you think you’re up to the challenge.”  
  
Aabha blew out a breath. “Let’s do it.”  
  
Lily got settled in Aabha’s arms, one arm around her back, the other around her knees.  
  
“Okay, Aabha,” Lily coached. “I’m still just floating, so the water’s doing most of the work. All you gotta do is stand up. Easy, right?”  
  
“Right,” Aabha nodded. “What’s my motivation?”  
  
“One: you get to be a hero. Two: you get to show your girlfriend how strong you are. Three: if you can lift me, then you can _definitely_ lift Kit’s twig ass, which is great if you ever wanna do some shoujo shit like run across a field and do that cheesy spinny-jump-hug thing.”  
  
Aabha gasped. “I _do_ want to do that someday!”  
  
“Oh my god, Aabha, never change…”  
  
Across the water, Kit’s impromptu swimming lesson was making remarkable progress. She was gliding through the water with a smooth, graceful backstroke, barely disrupting the water at all. Now, Lila on the other hand…  
  
“Lila, at this point you are just slapping the water!” Vincent groaned, getting covered in seafoam. He threw his hands up in frustration. “Come on, princess! Look at Kit! She’s doing great! You’ve almost got it!”  
  
“I don’t think I do!” Lila protested. “Are you sure I can’t have my floaties?”  
  
“ _No. Floaties._ ”  
  
Lila made a face. “You know, if Aabha was teaching me how to swim, I bet she’d let me have my floaties.”  
  
Vincent pawed at his face. He jabbed a finger across the water. “Aabha. Is _busy_.”  
  
“Dude, she sure is,” Kit muttered, grinning. “Look…”  
  
The next moment seemed to last forever. Aabha rose from the water, Lily cradled in her arms, water streaming down their forms and glittering like jewels in the brilliant sunlight. Lily’s arms were tight around Aabha’s neck, and they locked eyes, a host of feeling passing between them in an instant. Astonishment. Relief. Gratitude. Devotion…  
  
For one perfect moment, Aabha stood like a sculpted hero on a victory arch, framed in sunlight, radiant, divine. Then, she shrieked in delight, Lily cheering in her arms.  
  
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! I did it! We did it!” Aabha squealed.  
  
“Man, Aabha…” Lily mused. “If you had wings? It’d be swoon city over here.”  
  
“That’s the dream,” Aabha grinned. “Oh, and for the record, Lily? I’ll have you know, running across a field and doing a spinny-jump-hug thing is the _height_ of romance.”  
  
“If you say so…” Lily rolled her eyes with the utmost fondness. She reluctantly pulled an arm away from Aabha’s neck and waved to the trio waiting down the beach. “Hey guys!”  
  
“Hey Lily!” Lila waved.  
  
“Aabha!” Kit called, her hands around her mouth. “You did it! You did the hero carry!”  
  
“I know! I’ve always wanted to!” Aabha called back.  
  
“You know what you gotta do now, right?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“ ** _Kiss!_** ”  
  
Aabha squawked, caught off-guard. She threw her hands up, on reflex, and wound up dropping Lily right back into the water.  
  
“I’m sorry!” Aabha tried to squeak out through her peals of laughter, but Lily wasn’t having it. Grinning like a hyena, Lily tackled Aabha into the surf. They crashed into the water, and emerged like breaching whales, sputtering and shrieking like they were kids again. For a moment, it seemed like they could finally catch their breath-- until Kit came running up through the shallows. She pounced on them, sending the trio tumbling through the waves, and under Paradiso’s infinite sky, the three girls laughed and laughed.  
  
~*~  
  
Inquisitor Thorn dropped a dataslate onto her desk with a thud.  
  
“Trance City, Hypnos,” she said sternly. “Your team had just spent a month raiding Syndicate cells across the sector, after having successfully stolen the shipping records of black market weapons from the factory at Site 17.”  
  
She flicked down the case file on her dataslate, skimming the contents.  
  
“...Commander Vega had sent you to the planet on leave,” Thorn continued. “Some well-earned time off after your string of victories. Instead, Junior Puri and yourself, Agent Morgan, were abducted by The Exchange, and held captive by the Blood Pact sorcerer Cyrus, who had previously eluded you. Lilian Chase attempted negotiating for your release; she got you out, Agent Morgan, but not Junior Puri. She was only recovered later, in an unsanctioned, independent operation. You took part in this mission, is that correct, Chief Bryant?”  
  
_Yes_ , Shanti typed. _Because the Order could not be seen to be picking a fight with the Exchange, the rescue team was composed entirely of civilians or civilian contractors with the Order, including myself and Captain Weiss._  
  
“But Enforcers Capello, Chase, and Sato also took part in this mission, did they not?” Lam inquired.  
  
“As she lacked the full authority of an Agent, Enforcer Sato decided that her and Enforcer Chase leading the rescue would not breach Commander Vega’s terms,” Syl said carefully. “As Kit herself put it, they’re ‘basically just muscle’.”  
  
“True enough,” Vernon chuckled.  
  
“And they _were_ successful in recovering Junior Puri?” Lam urged.  
  
“Yes,” Syl said sternly. “Kit and Lily brought Aabha home safe and sound.”  
  
“After being tortured, body and mind, by a deranged sorcerer? Is that what you call ‘safe and sound’, Agent Telerian?” Thorn demanded.  
  
“The mission was a _success_ ,” Morgan argued.  
  
“It was a fight that should never have been fought!” Thorn pressed. “Your team is drawing the ire of three major criminal organizations. Your junior, Agent Morgan, is making some very dangerous enemies. And after the ordeal she went through at the hands of Father Cyrus, this board has decided that it’s time to re-evaluate Aabha Puri’s place aboard Order asset Sparrow.”  
  
“With _respect_ , Inquisitor,” Morgan hissed, “what Aabha went through was monstrous, yes. But it has not compromised her ability to do her job. She’s a good Agent! One of our best!”  
  
“So you say,” Thorn said coldly, “but, as one of her seniors, yours is hardly an unbiased opinion. We have decided to seek the counsel of one with a more… objective, approach.”  
  
There was a tromp of boots by the courtroom door. The four Inquisitorial troopers in red and black snapped to attention, their weapons braced against their shoulders.  
  
“This board calls to the stand Director Kamuro of Order Intelligence,” Thorn announced.  
  
A man strode into the courtroom, his dark coat glimmering emerald in the light and spilling down his shoulders like wings.  
  
Crane rose with a gasp.  
  
“Master…?” she hissed.  
  
Soren met her eyes with his own somber, melancholy gray. He smiled sadly.  
  
“Hello, my dear,” Soren whispered. “I cannot say this is how I wished to see you again.”  
  
Crane recoiled, dismayed. Syl took her by the hand and tugged her back down into her seat.  
  
Morgan watched Soren stride up the aisle and take a seat behind the podium. He sighed, shaking his head and turning back towards Thorn.  
  
“Inquisitor, you are making a mistake,” Morgan said, adamant. “Aabha Puri is one of the bravest, brightest, most capable young women I have ever known. She is the very _picture_ of professionalism and poise!”  
  
~*~  
  
_“Spin the bottle~!”_ Aabha sang, complete with jazz hands.  
  
“Seriously, Aabha?” Lily asked, dubious. “‘Spin the bottle’? What are we, twelve?”  
  
“I’m eighteen!” Lila announced, as if that was some kind of accomplishment.  
  
“We’ll keep it interesting, naturally,” Kit said, curled up on the couch in the crook of Aabha’s arm. “How about, every round, whoever _isn’t_ kissing takes a drink? ‘Cept for Lila, obviously, ‘cuz she’s a baby.”  
  
“I’m not a baby!” Lila insisted.  
  
“Drink your _juice_ , Lila,” Lily teased. Lila punched her in the arm.  
  
“Man, I don’t even know what _I’m_ doing here,” Vincent drawled.  
  
“Because you’re our friend and we want to include you?” Aabha asked.  
  
“Well, sure, but you’re kind of taken, Aabha. And Kit—“  
  
“—doesn’t like men,” Kit cut in.  
  
“Doesn’t like men, yes, I know,” Vincent said. “Shit, do _any_ of you guys like men at all?”  
  
“I do,” Aabha said.  
  
“I do!” Lila chirped.  
  
“I do,” Lily teased, “just not _this_ one.”  
  
Vincent pawed at his face. “Okay, honestly? That’s fair…”  
  
Aabha clapped her hands. “Alright, let’s get to it!”  
  
Aabha set a glass bottle down on the coffee table between them all, a thick, heavy bottle with a cork stopper and no label.  
  
“Wow, Aabha,” Lily snickered. “What was in here? A dying sailor’s last words?”  
  
“I wanna go first!” Lila cried. She grabbed the bottle, and set it spinning. The dense, sea-green glass rattled as it spun on the wooden tabletop, finally settling on Aabha. Lila jumped out of her seat and punched the air.  
  
“Ahh! Yes! First try!” Lila squealed.  
  
“Wow,” Vincent said, raising an eyebrow. “Just how long have you been waiting for this?”  
  
“Excuse you, have you seen Aabha? She’s gorgeous,” Lila protested.  
  
“No doubt about that,” Kit grinned, sipping her sangria.  
  
“Stop…” Aabha swatted at her, her cheeks warm. She beckoned to Lila. “…Come here…”  
  
“Oh my god, oh my god, this is happening…” Lila murmured, fanning herself. She climbed up onto the couch beside Aabha, squeaking when Aabha placed a hand on her cheek.  
  
Aabha tipped Lila’s chin up and gave her a sweet, feather-light kiss. Lila pulled away with a sigh.  
  
“Wow…” Lila murmured, starry-eyed. She shook her head. “Uh, I mean, I don’t know if I did that right, do you think I could get a do-over? Maybe we could kiss again?”  
  
“Down, girl,” Lily teased, pulling Lila back down onto the carpet.  
  
“I can’t believe my first kiss was with an _angel_ …” Lila said, practically swooning.  
  
“Technically a Hindi demoness,” Aabha shrugged, smiling, “but I hope I did alright. And I believe it is my turn, so…!”  
  
Aabha reached down and gave the bottle a spin. It whirred across the tabletop and settled on Vincent.  
  
“Oh! Lucky!” Lila said, shoving Vincent’s shoulder.  
  
“You literally just kissed Aabha yourself,” Vincent said dryly.  
  
“Well, Mr. Capello, now it’s your turn…” Aabha purred.  
  
Vincent sat up, dusting himself off. He cleared his throat, tugging at his collar.  
  
“…Listen, Aabha, I don’t wanna make this weird. I mean, you and Kit are dating…”  
  
“Oh, what’s a little slightly tipsy kissing between friends?” Aabha chirped.  
  
“Wow,” Lily said dryly.  
  
“Get up here, Romeo,” Kit grinned. “We don’t mind. Really.”  
  
“I just want to remind you all that Romeo _dies_ in that play…” Vincent groaned. He took a deep breath, mustered his courage, and then leaned in and planted a chaste kiss on Aabha’s lips. They parted, smiling.  
  
“See? That wasn’t too weird,” Aabha reassured.  
  
“…Y’know, funny story,” Vincent began, “this isn’t the _first_ time I’ve kissed a taken woman…”  
  
“Okay, don’t ruin it,” Aabha laughed, and shoved Vincent away.  
  
“My turn, then…” Vincent said, taking the bottle and giving it a spin. It whirled around on the tabletop and slid to a stop pointing at Kit.  
  
Vincent blinked. Kit raised an eyebrow.  
  
“…Yeah, I’m just gonna give that another spin,” Vincent said, sheepish, and spun the bottle again. This time, it pointed squarely at Lila.  
  
Lila sighed in relief. “Oh, I’m _so_ glad Aabha got to be my first kiss.”  
  
“Gee, thanks,” Vincent drawled.  
  
“No, what I mean is, now I’m all warmed up!” Lila babbled. “It’s a compliment!”  
  
“Calm down,” Vincent sighed. “…Come here.”  
  
Lila stiffly let Vincent pull her into his arms. She exhaled, her hands braced against his chest. Their lips met in a soft, sweet kiss, before they parted abruptly, shaking their heads.  
  
“Oh. No.” Lila grimaced.  
  
“Yeah, nope,” Vincent winced. “Sorry. I thought kissing Aabha was gonna be weird, but that? _That_ was weird.”  
  
“What’s wrong?” Lily asked.  
  
“Well, I mean…” Vincent vaguely waved his hand. “You’re my friend, Lily. And Lila’s your sister. There are, like, rules.”  
  
“Yeah, I couldn’t do it. The entire time we were kissing, I was thinking of Lily.” Lila blinked, and went pale. _“That came out wrong!”  
  
_“Moving right along…” Aabha said. “Lila, it’s your spin.”  
  
The bottle whirled across the coffee table, and settled on Kit. Lila squealed, clapping her hands in delight.  
  
“Oh! Oh, what are the odds?” Lila cried.  
  
“About one in five,” Lily teased.  
  
“Oh, here we go!” Kit cried, untangling herself from Aabha and sitting up on the couch. “Get ready for me, sister!”  
  
“ _Please_ don’t call me ‘sister’ when we’re about to k—wahhhh!!!” Lila shrieked as Kit curled her legs beneath her and pounced, the two of them tumbling across the floor. Kit pinned Lila down, grinning, a smoky look in her eyes.  
  
“Pucker up, buttercup,” Kit purred.  
  
“Y-Yes, ma’am…” Lila squeaked.  
  
Kit drew Lila into a deep, smouldering kiss that left Lila a whimpering, mewling wreck on the floor. Kit released Lila’s lips with a pop, and gave her a playful pat on the cheek.  
  
“First one’s free, princess,” Kit grinned, before slinking back up to Aabha on the couch.  
  
“…wow…” Lila murmured, dazed. She sat up, wearing a broad, dopey smile. “Well. Aabha was my first kiss, but Kit was my first tongue. Cross that one off my list.”  
  
“There’s a _list_?” Lily teased. Lila bonked her head into Lily’s shoulder.  
  
“Looks like it’s my turn,” Kit said, spinning the bottle. She glanced up at Aabha, smiling dangerously. “Oh! Well, would you look at _that_ …”  
  
Kit took a fistful of Aabha’s collar and pulled her into a kiss. Aabha laughed, smiling into Kit’s mouth, pushing Kit back onto the couch. But Kit pulled Aabha down with her, wrapping her legs tight around Aabha’s waist. A rumbling growl rose out of Kit’s throat as she kissed Aabha deeper, deeper, finally nipping at her lips with her teeth and making Aabha gasp.  
  
“O-kay!” Vincent said, standing up. “I think that's our cue to leave.”  
  
“What? Really?” Lila complained.  
  
“Yes, really. C’mon, kiddo,” Vincent urged.  
  
“I’m not a kid…” Lila muttered. She took an indignant sip of her juice before letting Vincent usher her away.  
  
Lily cleared her throat, a strange warmth pooling in her chest, her cheeks, her core.  
  
“…Was this all just an elaborate excuse for you two to make out?” Lily teased, shaking her head fondly. “There are other ways…”  
  
Lily got up, making to follow Vincent and Lila out onto the porch, when a sudden breeze pushed the front door shut. She stopped in her tracks, the room suddenly stifling. She turned, and saw Aabha and Kit gazing up at her from the couch, a glimmer of magicked wind lingering around Kit’s fingertips.  
  
“Lily,” Aabha cooed, so tenderly it made Lily’s heart ache. “Stay with us.”  
  
Lily swallowed hard. “…Uh… I don’t know if…”  
  
“Come on, Lily,” Kit said, a knowing grin on her lips.  
  
She reached over, and clapped a hand against the bottle still lying on the coffee table.  
  
“You didn’t get to play.”  
  
~*~  
  
“Director, please state your name and rank for the court record,” Thorn declared.  
  
“Soren Kamuro, Director of Order Intelligence and sitting member of the Order’s Watchtower Council,” Soren said, unreadable behind his formal posture and stormy-gray eyes. “Forgive me for keeping you waiting. I am, as you can imagine, quite a busy man.”  
  
“I assure you, Director, we would not call you out here without due cause,” Thorn said, leering sidelong at Morgan, Syl, Crane, and Shanti, tense under Soren’s inscrutable gray eyes.  
  
The Order is the union of eight branches, intertwined and dependent on one another so that no one branch can seize total control. One representative from each of these branches, along with a sole ninth member from the Inquisition to serve as moderator, together formed the Watchtower Council, the very highest echelon of Order authority.  
  
As a member of the Council, Soren was one of the eight most powerful people in the galaxy. Having him here meant this hearing was a farce, through and through—or the team was in much, much more trouble than they could have ever imagined.  
  
“Director, can you explain to us your involvement with Junior Agent Aabha Puri?” Vernon asked.  
  
“I met Junior Puri, oh, years, ago,” Soren said. He never rose his voice far above a whisper, but when he spoke, everyone listened. “I was not yet Director, and she was not yet an Agent. She was a mere Initiate at Providence Academy at the time, and I was still serving under then-Director Pilgrim as Chief of Decryption.”  
  
“Can you explain to us the duties of your office at that time?” Lam asked.  
  
“The department of Decryption is a division of Order Intelligence,” Soren explained. “It specializes in the deprogramming and recovery of individuals suffering from long-term abuse, brainwashing, and psionic attack.”  
  
“And Junior Puri was one of these damaged individuals?” Thorn asked.  
  
Soren’s eyes flashed dangerously. “That is… an _indelicate_ term, Inquisitor. But… yes. Junior Puri and her father, Dr. Anand Puri, approached the department with a request. Aabha Puri is a rakshasa, Madam Inquisitor. Exceptionally powerful, but volatile, unable to control her powers or her similarly explosive temper. Keep in mind, it was due to a particularly traumatic incident that Junior Puri was enrolled in Providence Academy to begin with. Junior Puri and her father believed that, were these painful memories sealed away, she would have a more stable emotional foundation with which to pursue her studies without further incident.”  
  
“And what was this incident, Director?” Thorn asked.  
  
“One I am not at liberty to disclose to this board without Junior Puri’s express permission, and one wholly irrelevant to the case at hand,” Soren said firmly.  
  
“…Indeed,” Thorn said, changing tack. “Did you perform this procedure alone, Director?”  
  
“No,” Soren admitted. “I was assisted by my then-junior, Tabitha Crane.”  
  
“Agent Crane,” Thorn said, flicking her imperious gaze her way. “Were you aware of Junior Puri’s… condition?”  
  
“Yes, Inquisitor.”  
  
“And did you disclose this information to any other member of Order asset Sparrow, including Captain Weiss, Junior Puri’s seniors, the Agents Telerian, or to Junior Puri herself?”  
  
“I did not, Inquisitor.”  
  
“Why not?”  
  
“To remind Aabha of her own sealed memories would defeat the purpose of the procedure,” Crane said levelly, “and to inform her colleagues without her consent would be a breach of confidentiality.”  
  
“Of course, then the sorcerer Cyrus unlocked those memories by force, making this all a moot point,” Thorn shrugged. “Agent Crane, in your capacity as a registered Order telepath, are you capable of sealing a person’s memory?”  
  
“Yes, Inquisitor,” Crane said carefully, “but to perform a comprehensive seal, across such a long period of time, would be beyond my ability to do alone.”  
  
“That being said,” Thorn glowered, “did you, Agent Crane, attempt to replace the seal on Junior Puri’s memories after it had been broken?”  
  
“What?! No!”  
  
“Because you would not, or could not, Agent?”  
  
“Either?” Crane threw her hands up. “Aabha didn’t _ask_ me to re-seal her memories. I wasn’t going to tamper with her memories without her knowledge or consent!”  
  
“Even though not doing so has placed your team at risk?” Thorn demanded. “Agents Telerian. I’m sure you’ve all seen the archived footage from EXC Tower, and how a transformed Junior Puri massacred a dozen men in a matter of minutes. Have you considered the possibility that Aabha could similarly lose control aboard the Sparrow, or perhaps while on assignment, and thus compromise your operations?”  
  
“Madam Inquisitor,” Morgan said, as patiently as he could, “Aabha Puri is not a danger to herself or her colleagues.”  
  
“Can you prove that, Agent Morgan? Can you truly guarantee that Junior Puri will keep her demonic heritage under control, whether now or in the duress of a combat situation?”  
  
Morgan faltered. Syl stepped forward, growling.  
  
“With respect, Inquisitor,” Syl seethed, “we did not come here and stand before this board so you could accuse our junior of being a _hysterical woman_.”  
  
“Don’t be absurd!” Thorn snapped. “This is not a mere child throwing a tantrum. This is a dangerously powerful fire mage able to reduce two dozen men to charred corpses in an eyeblink! This is a young woman whose temper was so volatile she resorted to psionics to smother her explosive anger. It may not be now, it may not be for years, but the fact remains that your team is one bad day away from disaster. I don’t care if Junior Puri has the patience of a saint—!”  
  
“Madam Inquisitor,” Soren said, his voice cutting through Thorn’s vitriol. Thorn took a deep breath, and gestured for Soren to continue.  
  
“Agents,” he said softly, his eyes flicking to each of theirs in turn. “Your junior, Aabha, is an extraordinary woman. But even the best and brightest of us can be undone in a single moment of lapsed judgment. This is not an attack on Aabha’s character. I’m sure you have the utmost faith in your apprentice, as you rightly should.”  
  
Soren sighed, troubled. He steepled his fingers, glimmers of emerald magic glinting around his hands.  
  
“However,” Soren said, “speaking as one who knows more than anyone: the mind is an extraordinary thing, but it has its limits. Thought, memory, feeling… these can all be such fickle things. Faith, I am afraid, is not always enough.”  
  
~*~  
  
This was a dream. It had to be. Just Lily, alone with her two closest friends, in a private beach house in the middle of the night. Aabha and Kit were twined together on the couch, but they were gazing up at Lily with such intensity in their eyes that Lily fought to tear her gaze away. It was suddenly unbearably warm. Even with the cool breeze coming in off the water, Lily was astonished she hadn’t burst into flames.  
  
“You haven’t gotten to play yet, Lily,” Aabha said, her innocent smile turning impish. “Maybe fate has it out for you tonight.”  
  
“Or maybe a certain wind mage wanted you all to herself,” Kit grinned. Lily’s throat felt tight.  
  
Lily cleared her throat. “Yeah, well… if my only other options are Vincent or my sister…”  
  
“Come here,” Aabha said, patting a spot on the couch beside them. “Stay with us.”  
  
Lily swallowed hard. She took a seat beside Aabha, careful not to press up against her. Aabha reached over to the bottle on the coffee table.  
  
“I believe it was my spin,” Aabha cooed. The bottle whirled around, magicked wind whistling as it slowed the bottle to a stop, pointing at Lily. Aabha broke into a languid smile. “Oh! Would you look at that…”  
  
Aabha placed a hand on Lily’s cheek, drawing her closer. Lily shuddered. She was so, so warm…  
  
“...Aabha…” Lily panted. “...Aabha, wait. I- I don’t want to get between you and Kit.”  
  
“You sure about that?” Kit grinned. “C’mon, Lily. We joke about this often enough.”  
  
“This isn’t a joke,” Lily said. “I…”  
  
“Oh, c’mon, Lily, don’t be such a wuss--”  
  
“Stop. Stop! Kit, stop,” Aabha said, squeezing Kit’s hand. She turned and met Lily’s eyes. “Lily. We’re not going to make you do anything you’re not comfortable with. If you don’t want to do this, we don’t have to. End of story.”  
  
“I _want_ this,” Lily insisted, a haggard edge to her voice. “I want this, _believe_ me. You two-- both of you-- I--”  
  
Lily blew out a breath, struggling to find the words.  
  
“...I want to be with you,” Lily whispered. “Both of you. Is that weird? Is that-- Is that wrong?”  
  
“No,” Aabha urged. “Never.”  
  
Lily put her head in her hands. “...I know we already spend a lot of time together. We already live together, and we’re already pretty comfortable just, y’know, cuddling and wrestling and whatnot. And if this was us just… messing around, I could wrap my head around that. But if this is… real… then…”  
  
Lily trailed off, troubled. She pulled her legs up onto the couch, hugging her knees to her chest. She felt a hand clap down on her shoulder, and looked up.  
  
“Hey,” Kit said, gentle. “Let’s take a walk.”  
  
~*~  
  
“Director Kamuro,” Thorn began, “if you had been put in Agent Crane’s position, how would you have approached Junior Puri’s situation?”  
  
Soren peered at Thorn over his steepled fingers. He sighed. “...Junior Puri was a known client whose psychic seal had been tampered with by a hostile force. In my professional opinion, I would have submitted Junior Puri to a comprehensive psychological evaluation at the earliest possible opportunity.”  
  
“I did,” Crane insisted. “I performed the evaluation myself--”  
  
“Agent Crane, by your own admission, the seal over Junior Puri’s memories was beyond your ability to handle alone,” Thorn said coldly. “Director Kamuro. If such a task was beyond your capabilities, how would you have proceeded?”  
  
“I would have contacted the nearest Order asset with the adequate facilities, and sent Junior Puri to receive an evaluation on my authority.”  
  
“Agent Crane, did you send Junior Puri to receive a secondary evaluation at a better-equipped facility?”  
  
Crane faltered. “We-- we were routed to Calcian as per Commander Vega’s orders. There was no time--”  
  
“Answer the question, Agent.”  
  
Crane bit her lip. “...No, Inquisitor. I did not.”  
  
“Director Kamuro,” Thorn said, her eyes glinting in triumph, “at this time, do you consider Junior Agent Aabha Puri to be a danger to herself or her team?”  
  
Soren sat for a long moment, staring down at his fingers steepled on the stand. He took a deep breath, and sighed.  
  
“I do so despise being treated as a mere ace up one’s sleeve,” Soren said quietly, his voice like ice. “Yes, Inquisitor. With her psychic seal compromised, Aabha Puri does pose a potential threat to herself and to her colleagues aboard Order asset Sparrow.”  
  
“However,” Soren said, rising to his feet. “I don’t believe Aabha poses nearly as much threat to her team as _you_ do. You, Inquisitor Thorn, and every other callous, unthinking bureaucrat tasked with balancing the Order’s ledgers.”  
  
“D-Director!” Thorn sputtered.  
  
“Agents, allow me to paint you a picture,” Soren said, pacing, his steps drawing a line in floor between the team and the review board. “The Order is a vast entity, tasked with the monumental mission of safeguarding the galaxy from our eternal enemy, Malice. But though we have the resources of dozens of star systems at our disposal, there are yet limits to our influence.  
  
“Take the word of someone who knows better than most: the World is changing. Many among Order high command believe the time has come for a… restructuring. In the midst of such upheaval, it would be easy for Order asset Sparrow to slip through the cracks. A small team, aboard a single ship, modest in the grand scope of things.  
  
“That is why, I suspect, Commander Vega pushed you to such great heights in these past six months. She had you pursue the sorcerer Cyrus and his mysterious Project. She had you lead the charge against the Dark Star Syndicate. She sent you to Calcian, where you stopped a Breach that would have threatened a continent, not just a city, had you not intervened.  
  
“Commander Vega did everything she could to show her superiors your team's great worth. She worked you to the bone, so that when the restructuring came, the Sparrow would be spared. Under her orders, your team has had an astonishing couple of months. You’ve racked up victories, Agents-- but they were costly victories. Costly enough to make you, and Aabha particularly… a tempting scapegoat.”  
  
“Th-This is absurd,” Thorn balked. “There are… safety concerns--”  
  
“It is easy to disband a team out of concern for their safety,” Soren snapped. “Easier, I imagine, than disbanding a team simply so you won’t have to pay their wages.”  
  
Thorn sat down with a huff, blowing out a sigh. She flashed a poisonous glance towards the team.  
  
“...The Inquisition summoned Order asset Sparrow here for evaluation,” she said, her jaw tight. “Such a thing is not done lightly. The **I** is upon them. They cannot leave this place with a mere slap on the wrist.”  
  
“Perhaps we can reach a compromise,” Soren said, glancing towards the team and meeting Crane’s eyes. “One that will set the Sparrow on a course to a brighter future, despite these… missteps. One that recognizes the strength of its leadership. And one that will give Aabha Puri a chance to demonstrate that her colleagues’ faith in her is well-earned, indeed.”  
  
~*~  
  
“Hey. You okay?”  
  
Lila shrugged. She was leaning over the porch rail, her glass dangling from her fingers. She lifted her glass and glumly took a sip. Vincent studied her, sitting on the porch steps.  
  
“Are you still bummed we won’t let you drink?” he mused. “‘Cuz who knows, maybe the Captain’ll be that cool mom who lets you drink underage as long as it’s in the house.”  
  
Lila snorted. “Well, let’s ask her. Hey, Captain?”  
  
In the living room, Jaki was reading by lamplight while Robyn sat on the couch, chatting idly while trailing her fingers through Yuna’s hair.  
  
“What’s up, kiddo?” Robyn called back through the open window, an arm draped over the back of the couch.  
  
“Can I have a for-real drink instead of this fruit punch?”  
  
“Sure, what the hell?” Robyn shrugged.  
  
“Yes!”  
  
“ _No_ ,” Jaki vetoed, peering over the top of his reading glasses. Robyn chuckled, and shrugged.  
  
Lila groaned, dismayed. She huffed, looking out across the beach. She saw Aabha, Kit, and Lily out near the water, hand in hand. Lila watched them in the distance, suddenly pensive.  
  
“Lily caught feelings for Aabha and Kit,” Lila mumbled.  
  
Vincent looked up at her. He raised an eyebrow. “...Was it supposed to be a secret?”  
  
Lila blew out a sigh. “...No. But I wish she’d talked to me about it. She used to tell me everything. Now…”  
  
“What, she’s got her own life?” Vincent shrugged. “You do, too.”  
  
“ _Do_ I?” Lila asked. She sighed. “...I’m not surprised she fell for them. Who could blame her? Aabha and Kit are both so cool, and I’m just… me.”  
  
“Why do you almost sound jealous?” Vincent asked.  
  
“Don’t get it _twisted_ ,” Lila scowled. “I just… wish I knew what I was. Or, I guess, what I want to be. Everybody’s got something going for them. Aabha wants to be a hero. She could do it, today. But what am I? Just a sheltered rich girl who’s not even all that rich anymore.”  
  
Lila sighed. She swished her juice around in her glass, watching it glint in the vivid moonlight.  
  
“I want to be someone Lily can be proud of, someday,” Lila murmured. “She spent the last ten years protecting me, taking care of me. I need to pull my own weight. I need to return the favor.”  
  
Lila shook her head.  
  
“...Even when Aabha, Kit, and Lily were storming my dad’s penthouse, all I could do was run and hide. I’m not strong like they are. I couldn’t do… anything.”  
  
“You survived,” Vincent said gently. “That’s not nothing.”  
  
“...Yeah,” Lila muttered, staring at her glass. She downed the rest of it in one long gulp, and set her glass on the floorboards with a thunk.  
  
“So. What’s the plan?” Vincent wondered. “Do you wanna stay up late and talk about your feelings some more?”  
  
Lila scoffed. “No.”  
  
“Do you wanna go back inside and get some more juice?”  
  
“Not really.”  
  
“Do you wanna… make out?”  
  
“ _No!_ ”  
  
Vincent paused. An impish grin slowly spread across his face.  
  
“...Do you wanna set off a whole fucking box of fireworks?”  
  
~*~  
  
Lily closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, and let it out slow.  
  
“...Man, you guys…” Lily smiled, rueful. “...we’ve been through some real shit together.”  
  
Kit snorted. “Yeah, _I’d_ say…”  
  
Lily sat down on a dune. Aabha and Kit sat down beside her. Where before, inside Robyn’s beach house had felt hot and stifling, out here on the water they felt familiar. Right.  
  
“I like you,” Lily said. “Both of you. There, I said it. And I really, really don’t want to make this weird, so if you guys could just go ahead and let me down gently…”  
  
“We’re not going to do that,” Aabha reassured.  
  
“Oh, yeah,” Kit agreed. “If I’m gonna turn you down, you’re gonna feel it.”  
  
Lily fondly rolled her eyes. She looped an arm around Kit’s shoulders and squeezed.  
  
“You came for me,” Aabha began, gazing up into the brilliant moonlight. “On Hypnos. You had the audacity to walk right into EXC Tower to try to get me out.”  
  
“I didn’t, though,” Lily shrugged.  
  
“Still,” Aabha said. “You stared down a mafia boss and a sorcerer for me. Do you have any idea what they could have done to you? You walked into hell for me.”  
  
“Yeah, well,” Lily dabbed at her eyes. “You and Kit did the same thing for me and Lila on Persephone. You walked into hell, and you got us out. It’s only fair.”  
  
“You were there for me, too,” Kit said, leaning into Lily’s shoulder. “When I was worried sick about Aabha getting kidnapped. And then later, during the rescue mission. As soon as we found out where Aabha was being held, I knew I was gonna be the first one in the door. But you were there, right along with me. I couldn’t have done it without you.”  
  
Aabha laid a hand on Lily’s shoulder and squeezed.  
  
“What we’re saying is, there’s a place for you here,” Aabha cooed. “Where it’s always been. If you want this. And if you’ll have us.”  
  
Lily blew out a breath. She glanced at Kit, meeting her eyes.  
  
“So, have you, like, done this kind of thing before, or…?”  
  
“Nope,” Kit chuckled. “First time in a relationship.”  
  
“This is only my second, so I’m hardly an expert,” Aabha tittered.  
  
“Right,” Lily said. “So I guess we’re all just gonna… figure it out.”  
  
Lily closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. A cool breeze passed over the waves, shivering the corkscrews of her hair and wordlessly nudging the trio closer together. Lily could feel the comforting warmth of Aabha and Kit cuddling in closer on either side. She let out a sigh, and all her tension with it.  
  
“Hey,” Aabha murmured. “What are you thinking about?”  
  
Lily opened her eyes, and saw Aabha curled up in the crook of her arm, leaning into her shoulder. Aabha’s amber eyes were practically glowing in the moonlight, Lily reached up, brushing her knuckles against Aabha’s cheek.  
  
“...I think…” Lily swallowed hard. “...I think… I really want to... kiss you.”  
  
Aabha smiled. “...Go on.”  
  
Kissing Aabha was like kissing the sun itself, all light and heat and unmasked adoration. Aabha was as warm and languid as a summer morning. She smiled into the kiss, tracing her fingers across Lily’s cheeks, like rays of warm sunlight kissing her awake. They parted with a sigh, their foreheads touching, Aabha’s hands lingering beneath Lily’s chin.  
  
“Wow…” Lily breathed.  
  
“Hey, hey, when do I get a turn?” Kit protested.  
  
Aabha laughed as Kit all but shoved her out of the way to pounce into Lily’s arms. They went tumbling down the dune, Kit peppering Lily with little teasing nips and pecks before Lily finally got fed up and pulled her into a deep kiss. While with Aabha, it was easy to melt completely into her embrace, with Kit, there was a lot more push-and-pull-- little, wordless challenges that Lily was all-too-happy to meet head on.  
  
They parted, and Kit gave Lily a playful pat on the cheek, the two of them grinning from ear to ear. There was a whistling hiss, and a bang-- and fireworks exploded in the sky above them, casting Crystal Coast’s pure white sand in red, yellow, and blue.  
  
Down the beach, Vincent and Lila were standing before an irresponsibly large crate of fireworks, Vincent with his sunglasses, grinning like a madman, and Lila holding a lit taper as if it were a conductor’s baton. They whooped and cheered as they sent more rockets spiraling up into the endless black of Paradiso’s night sky, setting the stars ablaze with light in every color.  
  
Kit and Lily sat up, gazing in wonder at the display. Aabha dropped down behind them, gathering them both into her arms. She nuzzled them both in turn, lifting her gaze to the tapestry of light and color painting an artificial aurora across the cloudless night.  
  
“It’s always been us,” Aabha said, like a prayer. “It’s always been the three of us, together. From now on, wherever we go, whatever we face…”  
  
Aabha squeezed Kit and Lily as tight as she could, her heart full to bursting.  
  
“If I have you with me, there’s nothing I can’t do.”  
  
~*~  
  
The Remora whirred as its drives powered down, kicking up eddies of sand. The armored hull slid open, and the team disembarked, their boots hitting the sand with muted thumps. In the distance, fireworks left gleaming smoke trails in the sky as they whizzed and popped in the air.  
  
Morgan sighed, his hands in his pockets, staring down at the sand. His comm chirped.  
  
_“Senior Telerian? This is Agent Simon Blair, calling from the spaceport. I contacted Order Logistics for your, uh, transportation, but uh, I’m afraid there’s been a bit of a delay. It may be some time until I can find you a shuttle back to Providence.”_  
  
“How long of a delay?” Morgan asked.  
  
Blair sounded sheepish. _“...About a week?”_  
  
Morgan smiled, but it was a sad smile. “...Thank you, Agent Blair.”  
  
_“Thank you, sir. And, um… I’m sorry. About today.”_  
  
“Don’t be,” Morgan said. Crane loomed over his shoulder.  
  
“Good kid,” she said blithely. She smiled, rueful. “Terrible boss.”  
  
“The worst,” Morgan chuckled.  
  
Shanti stood apart, watching Vincent and the girls running around down on the beach, sparklers in hand. A flicker of… something, some wordless melancholy, passed across her eyes. Morgan walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.  
  
_Look at them_ , Shanti signed without turning around. _They are the future._ _  
_ _  
_ _Yeah_ , Morgan signed back. _You’ll keep an eye on them, won’t you?_  
  
_Two eyes_ , Shanti nodded, her eyes wet. _And as many drones as I can spare._  
  
Syl stepped out of Crane’s shadow, her arms crossed tight around her chest. Crane reached out, squeezing her arm.  
  
“It should have been you,” Syl whispered.  
  
“Don’t say that,” Crane urged. “I’m a spy, not a leader. And she’s ready. She deserves this, more than anyone.”  
  
“But not like this,” Syl shook her head. “Not like this…”  
  
_You’ll have to tell her_ , Shanti signed, somber.  
  
“We’ll have to tell _everyone_ ,” Syl said.  
  
Morgan blew out a sigh. He reached into his pocket and closed his fingers around the little bundle, wrapped in parchment paper-- a badge. Aabha’s new badge, polished and gleaming.  
  
A victory, to be sure. Like Calcian, or Hypnos, or Persephone. But, like every victory before it, it came at a cost.  
  
“We’ll tell them in the morning,” Morgan muttered. “Let them have tonight.”  
  
The team trudged inside, one by one, where Jaki, Robyn, and Yuna were waiting to hear the news. Their melancholy slipped inside Robyn’s beach house like clouds covering the moon. But out on the beach, the kids scarcely noticed their return. There were no grim tidings or bittersweet victories. There was only Aabha, racing down the beach with Kit and Lily at her side, smiling like the sun through the clouds, or a firework, burning bright.  
  
~*~


End file.
